This exhibition will showcase an illustrious list of established and emerging artists whose works engender wonder about the world we live in. The present artist list includes artists from Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas, such as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Deborah Kelly, Isak Berbic, Hans op de Beeck, Anthony McCall, Isaac Montoya, Faisal Samra, Fujiko Nakaya, Ki-bong Rhee, and Felice Varini, to Southeast Asia and Singapore, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Heman Chong, Shubigi Rao, Tang Ling Nah and Willie Koh and Sherman Ong. All produce sharp, wonderful work that provide apertures and prisms of possibilities and hope, through which we can gaze at the world.Artistshttp://www.singaporebiennale.org/artists.phpThe following mp3 files listed below make up the Singapore Biennale Audio Guide. Click on the following links to listen to the Audio Guide on the computer.

The Award was established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. The aim of the Award is to recognise the important contribution made by Indigenous artists and to promote appreciation and understanding of the quality and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art from regional and urban based Indigenous artists throughout Australia, working in traditional and contemporary media. The Award is an important showcase for both established and emerging artists and has come to be regarded as one of the premier national events in the Australian Indigenous art calendar.

22 September, 2008

Chinese seal engraving can be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago to the Shang Dynasty when the inscriptions on tortoise shells and bronze were available for recording happenings and ideas of human being. The early Chinese seals were in the form of engraved pictographic characters and simple decorative patterns. From archeological finds, bronze seals engraved with pictographic characters are known to have existed in the Shang Dynasty. Some of those crudely made seals, though not matured in a high art form, are indicative of the simplicity of beauty found in early civilization of China.

A large part of the English language information onsite is also available on these pages along with illustrations of displays. Of particular interest was the rare books exhibit which contained samples of bronze cast moveable type. What was noticable was the relationship between the moveable type (pictured) and the ancient bronze cast seals exhibited elsewhere in the museum.

The carving of characters into flat blocks of wood, which are then rubbed with ink and then pressed on paper (a technique known as woodblock printing), began during the T'ang dynasty (618-907) (figure 2).

Starting in the Sung dynasty (960-1279), it became the major means of producing traditional printed matter in China. Early woodblock prints could only be printed in one color (usually black ink) and were known accordingly as "tan-yin (single print)". If several woodblocks for the same print are made, with a different color intended for each part, then repeated printing on the same piece of paper can yield a print with two, three, four, or even five colors. This is known as a "t'ao-yin (set print)". Books printed using the "t'ao-yin" method are called "t'ao-yin pen (set-print books)" and represent the distinctive technique of color printing in ancient China.

Movable type printing, on the other hand, uses copper casts (figure 3) or wood engravings of individual characters that are assembled before printing together on a page (figure 4). The Ch'ien-lung Emperor (r. 1736-1795) referred to books produced at his court using movable wood type as "chü-chen pan (gem ['assembled treasure'] editions)". Lithography is a Western technique that was brought to China in the late Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911) and rapidly spread as a result of its high speed of production and low cost.

17 September, 2008

Things have been "interesting" here in Taiwan since I arived. We had a typhoon on Moon Festival weekend which has created widespread devastation across the country. There have been floods and mudslides which have cut major roads, collapsed bridges and swept away people and cars.

"Since Saturday the storm has caused hundreds of mudslides, left more than a quarter million without power, and led to more than 1,5000 evacuations. Agricultural losses are estimated to be close to $3.5 million dollars."see Youtube videoshttp://www.youtube.com

The internet connection that I am using is slow and unsuitable for posting to the blog. I am working on a better connection. Please be patient.

The site - www.printfair.com - has been designed to offer viewers a more visual impression of the Fair and everything it offers. Look to the new website for easy access to detailed information, including the list of member dealers exhibiting this year and links to their websites as well as the Fair's Opening Night Preview and Saturday Program. It also features a day-to-day listing of the lectures, demonstrations, expositions, gallery talks, and openings which comprise New York Fine Art Print Week. The new Print Fair website is the cornerstone of a larger project to expand the IFPDA's own website in the coming months.

The Urban Nomad Film Program at the 2008 Taipei Biennial- From the curators

Following the opening of the Taipei Biennial on September 13, the Urban Nomad Film Fest will keep the exhibition’s spirit alive through six weeks of free screenings of indie films. The first screening will be in Taipei Art Park at 7:30pm on Sunday, September 14, and afterwards screenings will happen every Saturday from September 20 to October 18 at 7:30pm at the Taiwan Beer Factory on Jianguo South Road in Taipei.

The films will include documentaries, features and shorts from Taiwan and around the world that relate amazing and entertaining stories, while also speaking to movements for change and social awareness. Films will cover subjects like an American defector to North Korea, Nigeria’s film industry, Japanese democracy, and Filipino hip hop gangs. It’s just our way of blazing a more sustainable path into this brave new world.

Urban Nomad is a self-funded platform for underground and indie films founded in 2002 and based in Taipei. This year, we are cooperating with the 2008 Taipei Biennial upon the request of curators Manray Hsu (Germany/Taiwan) and Vasif Kortum (Turkey). Our major goal is to create community-level support for producers of short films, documentaries and narrative films, and also a place where people can simply come together. We also work to stretch this community spirit by building connections with indie filmmakers and festivals in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

In 2008, Urban Nomad’s annual festival drew an audience of around 1000 people in eight days of screenings in Taipei. In the last year, the festival toured to Hong Kong and art fairs in Miami, USA and Basel, Switzerland, with Urban Nomad co-founder David Frazier receiving an independent curator award from the Scope Art Fair. Sean Scanlan is Urban Nomad’s co-founder and organizer.

The Taipei Biennial is Taiwan’s premier exhibition for contemporary art and is organized by the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts. This sixth edition of the Biennial takes place between September 13, 2008 and January 4, 2009.

Woodblock printing is the earliest form of print arts. In its earliest days, woodblock printing was used by both Eastern and Western cultures primarily to deliver religious materials, before it was used to print illustrations on books. As time progressed, woodblock printing developed a growing diversity of expression and content. In the early twentieth century, woodblock printing gained sufficient artistic autonomy for it to part from the traditional realm of applied arts and establish itself as an independent art form.

Woodblock printing is characterized by its simple and unsophisticated qualities. In the early days of its technical development, woodblock printing was most commonly characterized by simple black-and-white lines produced through either intaglio or letterpress printing. Techniques of colored prints were later applied to create a more artistic look. Handy and mass-producible, woodblock prints serve as a useful vehicle for communication and an art form most relevant to our everyday life.

Traditional woodblock printing was first brought to Taiwan by Chinese settlers during the late Ming Dynasty. Thanks to its demotic and practical characteristics, the so-called "folk woodblock prints", widely used in daily life as a means of communication, adornment, or distributing religious materials, gained widespread popularity in the Qing Dynasty.

Soon after the end of World War II, woodblock printing began to be widely practiced by artists but mostly for propaganda creation or promoting social movements. In the 1950s and 1960s, modernism exerted much influence on Taiwan's woodblock printing, prompting the founding of The Modern Print Association in 1958 - a moment which can be seen to mark a new era for Taiwan's woodblock printing, as woodblock printing was then gradually liberated from the practical purpose of creating illustrations and propaganda materials, and began to gain artistic autonomy.

Under the influence of the Nativist Movement in the 1970s, works of woodblock printing often served as a pictorial record of the experience of life in the process of social transformation, vividly portraying Taiwan's natural wonders and cultural scenes, as well as the lived daily experience.

The 1980s saw a rich diversity in woodblock printing, as some of the younger-generation artists brought new ideas into woodblock printing, and some artists endeavored to redefine cultural codes from a local perspective.

Since 1983, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan, R. O. C. has organized and held 12 rounds of International Biennial Print Exhibition. The Biennial is often organized in conjunction with a special-themed exhibition. In 2004, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts took over the organization of the Biennial, and has since held the exhibition in conjunction with Centennial Exhibition of Famous Prints in 2004, and A Boom in British Printmaking, 1961-1972 in 2006.

The NTMFA is honored to present this year's The 13th International Biennial Print Exhibition in conjunction with Indelibly Marked: Woodblock Printing in Taiwan (1945-2005). In so doing, we hope to examine, from the perspectives of sociology and cultural history, the growth and development of Taiwan's woodblock printing in the six decades following the end of WWII. The exhibition, which features a total of 96 pieces of woodblock printing, will be presented in seven thematic sections: 1.) humanitarian concerns and social criticism; 2.) the pursuit for fighting spirits; 3.) exploration of technical options and experimental approaches; 4.) the growth of abstract styles; 5.) art that develops from the deep love for the land; 6.) sophisticated realism; and 7.) the celebration of diversity and exploration of contemporary issues. We hope that such arrangements can give the viewers a comprehensive understanding of the artistic characteristics of Taiwanese woodblock printing during the period concerned.

Since our founding period in 1986, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts has been collecting works of print arts. Under the provision of our annual art-collection development plan, our collection of works of print arts have grown into a comprehensive system that represents the development of Taiwanese woodblock printing in the post-WWII era. In a spirit to introduce to our viewers the development of Taiwanese art, the NTMFA presents this exhibition, Indelibly Marked: Woodblock Printing in Taiwan, which is informed by the research of Mr. Chen Shu-Sheng, and features a total of 96 pieces of works by 30 Taiwanese artists. This exhibition represents a rich part of Taiwanese art history. In the future, the NTMFA will continue to stage exhibitions on artworks that employ other media. We welcome your continued interest.

10 September, 2008

The cafe here serves great burgers. You can sit on the terrace and have a cold beer.

Area of Services

1) Artist-In-Residence Program (AIR)

Taipei Artists Village provide residency program for artists in Taiwan and around the world. There are three main components to the Taipei Artist Village (TAV) AIR program:

International AIR exchange program Taipei Artist Village International Residency program Taiwan Artist sponsoring program

The Taipei Artist Village International Residency program is designed for individual artist who wish to reside in TAV at their expense.

TAV provides a perfect destination for the International AIR program, which allows artists from around the world and Taiwan a common place for collaboration. There are almost 30 countries and many more organizations currently participating in the exchange program with TAV, including: SSAMZIE SPACE (Korea), SACATAR FOUNDATION (Brazil), FCS, Australia-China Council, Asia Link, Gasworks (England), Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art (Finland), The O.K. Center for Contemporary Art (Austria), ASPCC (U.S.) and many others. One of Taipei Artist Village's goals is to build strong relationships with more cities around the world, particularly in Asia, and make more contributions in the field.

2) Promotional program

Taipei Artist Village organizes a variety of events and promotions to support artists with their projects. Some of the events are "Open Studios", "Workshops", and "Artreach Seminars", educational programs, as well as "Curator Visit" meetings.

3) Exhibition and Performing program

The Taipei Artist Village is the wonderful location to keep in mind for artists who wish to participate in the AIR program. TAV's exhibition and performance program helps artists find connections with other artists and locations around the world leading to further exploration and contributions to the city. The exhibition spaces are available for non-TAV exhibitions for professional and amateur level artists when not reserved for AIR program events.

4) Dynamic Arts

TAV develops a regular exhibition/performance schedule for both resident artists and the local art community in order to promote interaction between artists and the general public. Taipei Artist Village also has a retail center and coffee shop that offers art-related products to the general public. The TAV coffee shop provides a prefect place for activities related to art, ranging from food tasting and stimulating conversation to display and sale of artists' work and related merchandise. TAV is planning to help artists further by developing limited edition merchandise related to the artists' work where feasible and desired by the artists.